WASHINGTON — A federal judge imposed a gag order on Roger Stone’s legal proceedings that places some limitations on what he, his lawyers, and other parties say about the case.
Stone, a longtime associate of President Donald Trump, was arrested last month after special counsel Robert Mueller brought charges that he misled the House Intelligence Committee about his attempts to communicate with WikiLeaks during the 2016 presidential campaign. WikiLeaks released a trove of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and later from John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman.
In the wake of his indictment, Stone has granted numerous interviews and made statements denying the charges and blasting Mueller’s investigation as politically motivated.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson wrote on Friday that she has “particular concerns about the potential impact of public statements made in the District of Columbia, directed at individuals who may be members of the venire from which the jury will be drawn.”
She added, “in light of the size and vociferousness of the crowds that have already been attracted to these proceedings, and the risk that public pronouncements by the participants may inflame those gatherings, the Court is persuaded that a narrowly tailored order governing the conduct of participants in the matter while they are at the courthouse is necessary to advance the Court’s legitimate interest in maintaining the order and decorum that is essential to court proceedings and the fair administration of justice.”
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Her order prohibits attorneys and witnesses from “making statements to the media or in public settings that pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice to this case.” She also ordered the parties to refrain from making prejudicial statements to the media in the vicinity of the courthouse.
She warned Stone that “one factor that will be considered in the evaluation of any future request for relief based on pretrial publicity will be the extent to which the publicity was engendered by the defendant himself.”
Stone’s first appearance at the D.C. courthouse drew a mix of pro-Stone and anti-Trump demonstrators. As he exited, he gave a Nixon-like wave of both arms with his fingers locked in the V for victory sign.